I was reminded today that some people want to access my recipe archive without having to sign up for a wordpress account.  I’ve “unlocked” this site, so it is visible to the public, but its unlikely new posts will be forthcoming.  Happy trails, all.

I recently returned from my too-short summer vacation to Saratoga Springs.  As some readers already know, I go to Saratoga pretty much every year, and it is absolutely my favorite place to be.  Its my family place, a relaxing place, a great food town, a great gambling town, a great parks town, and a great music town.  Those are basically all my favorite things.  You can see some photos from my trip by clicking the flickr box on the top right of my blog page.

This post will be a recap of my trip to Saratoga, and a potential guide of things to do (or not do) if you ever venture there yourself.

Days in Saratoga: 11

Days at the Racetrack: 10

Moneys Won 8/5 – 8/13: $450

Moneys Lost 8/14 – 8/15: $430 (see: things not to do.)

Number of Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack Black and White Milkshakes: 2

Number of Mineral Baths at the Roosevelt Baths and Spa: 4

Number of Saratoga Sparkling Waters Downed: at least 30, I’m very effervescent now.

Number of Drinks from Various Spring Taps Around Town: 5 (Big Red, Congress, Governor, High Rock, Hathorn 1)

Number of Meals at Sabina’s Wood Fired Restaurant: 4

Number of Meals at The Beekman Street Bistro: 1

Number of Meals I Wish I Could Eat at the Beekman Street Bistro: Infinite

Number of Times I Went to Hatties and Ate Corn on the Cob and Thought about Breaking My Vegetarianism to Try Some Fried Chicken: 1

Number of Parks Visited: 3 (Congress Park, Saratoga Spa State Park, Saratoga National Historical Park/Battlefield)

Number of Harps on Stage at the Saratoga Harp Colony Gala: 24 (Side Note: the concert was in the brand new Zankel Music Center at Skidmore College – this room is stunning, the sound is incredible, and the wall behind the stage is left open/screened so you can watch the twilight dim along the trees as the concert progresses, really just an outstanding venue)

Number of Mosquito Bites Received While Sitting on the Lawn and Watching the Philadelphia Orchestra Play the Ode to Joy at SPAC: 2

Number of New Apple Varieties tried: 1, called “Paula Red”, from a roadside stand between Schuylerville and Saratoga.  Also recommend the cider donuts from said stand.

Number of Visits to the Mall: Zero

Number of Walks Downtown: 12

Number of Middle-Aged Drunk People on Caroline Street: Too Many to Count

Number of Single-Malt Scotches at 9 Maple Ave: 158

Number of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Cones Consumed: One, Black Raspberry Fro-Yo in a Sugar Cone

Bonus Link: NY Times Article featuring my DAD at the Roosevelt Baths.

This morning I was perusing my local paper (if you can call it that), The Morning Call, and felt a sinking disappointment that is hard to adequately explain.  The business beat reporter, Tyrone Richardson, devoted his entire weekly column to complaining about the lack of national chain restaurants in the Lehigh Valley.  He gives a brief mention to some local businesses that are okay in a pinch, according to him.  Now, look, I’m not saying I wouldn’t be overjoyed if Costco decided to open shop nearby, and I certainly understand why many people are clamoring for some of these national names.  But, I’m going to jump on the bandwagon that Jeff Pooley has been driving and give Tyrone a little back talk.

Tyrone, its not news that the Lehigh Valley isn’t a top destination for major retail chains, we’re not a major market.  What is news is that within my relatively-short lifetime, we in the Lehigh Valley lost our two biggest employers and somehow both Allentown and Bethlehem have managed to diversify their economies enough to not have a devastating loss of population.  As Tyrone mentions in his article, the Lehigh Valley is a growing region that attracts people from New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and elsewhere.  Both cities have abundant entrepreneurs who have literally led the way to this diversification, opening small businesses in the retail, service, manufacturing, and technology sectors that would make people in many parts of Ohio, Western New York, Michigan, etc double over with envy.  Its news that even in this hideous economy, many of these business owners are digging in and hanging on, while big name national chains like Quizno’s make their quick exits.  Its news that against all odds, new small businesses are opening, while big chains put the brakes on their expansion plans and decide to wait it out.  Just something to think about the next time you decide to devote 100% of your precious column inches to writing about big name retail and why there’s not more of it in the Lehigh Valley.

I’m preparing to leave this week for my annual vacation in Saratoga Springs, NY.  I could, and probably will have a whole separate post on the numerous reasons that this is my favorite town to spend time in, but the primary reason is the awesome power of its downtown – home to dozens of independently-owned restaurants, shops, bars, galleries, and cafes.  When I stroll down Broadway looking for Breakfast on Thursday morning, I know for sure that I’m not going to have any regrets that I can’t enjoy a Dunkin Donut.

I didn’t plant any zucchini in my garden – I planted two yellow squash plants, which are producing at an acceptable but not out of control rate.  A few weeks ago, I traded some yellow squash for zucchini from a friend who has two zucchini plants that just basically exploded, growing full size fruits basically overnight.

Here is a solution for both of us.

Most people run out of ideas for zucchini after the first two weeks of harvesting.  They’ve done a dozen stir-frys, grilled zucchinis, breads, muffins, lasagnas, etc and they are at their wits end.  Then, there’s the second group, the group which I fall into, which is the “All I want for dinner is a bowl of spaghetti” group.

Zucchini Fettucini

• Peel 1 to 2 zucchini with a vegetable peeler into long ribbons.  Stop peeling when you get to the seedy center.  You can cube that part and freeze it for soup or stir-fry at some future date.
• Mince some garlic, heat some olive oil over medium-high heat
• Saute the zucchini and garlic for 2-3 minutes until the zucchini is tender
• Top it with whatever sauce you would use on your big bowl of spaghetti

If you can believe it, this is even faster and easier than making regular spaghetti, not to mention lower in calories (zucchini only have 13 calories per half-cup serving), lower in carbs, and packed with all the zucchini goodness like folate, potassium, and vitamins A and C.  If you have yellow squash, you can do the same with the yellow squash – or best of all, mix the two for a really colorful and easy dinner!

Its here!  Garden fresh veggies in abundance!  My squash have recovered from whatever was ailing them, and I’ve harvested quite a few, with many more blossoms growing.  The cherry tomatoes are sweet and ripe, the peas are absolutely perfect, and the peppers are crisp and tasty.

This summer I am making a concerted effort to eat more homemade whole-food meals, and not use canned or boxed foods for the most part (exceptions for whole wheat pastas, couscous, and brown rice).  The big challenge is to plan ahead so that I always have something fresh ready to be made into a meal.  Its much easier to do so when so many fresh ingredients are growing right on the back deck!

The other night, I decided to make the “Pisto Manchego” from Martha Rose Shulman’s NYT column.  I added a red bell pepper and used cherry tomatoes instead of canned.  Paired with some crispy kale, this was a seriously incredible summer meal.  Tonight I made a delicious pureed soup of corn, summer squash, hot peppers, and shallots.  Tomorrow?  Perhaps a carrot soup & a pesto & tomato sandwich.

This week I had a plan.  Pizzas.  Fancy pizzas.  I made a DELICIOUS slow-fermenting whole-wheat pizza dough based on a Peter Reinhart recipe from “American Pie.”  Hey, look, an endorsement opportunity.  If you like breads or pizza or baking in general – go out to your library or bookstore or do some good internet sleuthing and get some Peter Reinhart materials.  You may recall that I made some delicious breads a while back from one of his books…. Every single bread and or pizza recipe I have tried of his has turned out fantastic.  You just really need to read his stuff before you ever make bread or pizza again.  These dough rounds were easily the most beautiful dough I’ve ever made.  Just perfectly supple and soft, but not sticky at all.  And they tasted awesome.

Okay Okay, enough with the gushing.  I made two types of pizzas:

Caramelized Onion and Sauteed Mushroom with Fontina Cheese

Pear, Fig, Arugula, and Goat Cheese w/ Balsamic Dressing.  Yes, I do realize that the second pizza is really a salad on top of a pizza crust.  Get into it!

The grilling method is simple:

1. flour the rolled-out dough so that it doesn’t stick
2. slip it onto a hot grill and grill 3-4 minutes until slightly puffed up and browning on the bottom.
3. Remove the dough and arrange the toppings on the cooked side.
4. Put the pies back onto the grill, over a medium-to-low heat, and close the cover (make sure the vents are open).  Let it cook another 3-4 minutes until the toppings are melty and hot, and the bottoms are cooked.

For the salad pizza, don’t put the arugula on until you’ve taken the pizza off the grill.  Its nice if the arugula wilts down a tiny bit from the heat of the pizza, but you don’t want it to be all mushy.

The trick to grilling pizza is to make sure your pizza dough isn’t too sticky, to have a super thin crust, and not too heavy toppings.  If you are using a charcoal grill instead of gas, just pile the charcoal high on one side and not high on the other so you can have a hot side and a not-so-hot side for cooking.

The end result will be a delicious pizza, with a crisp & chewy flavorful crust and the topping combinations are limitless – I like mixing sweet and savory on pizza (pineapple, onion, and coconut-pesto), or really traditional pies with lots of garlic and tomato goodness.

Question for my omnivorous friends and readers – I’ve been thinking about trying to slice up some seitan as a pizza topping, my seitan recipe is probably most comparable to chicken in the meat world – if you were going to make a pizza with chicken on top, what else would you put with it?

I’ve been lost from music for a while.  Its the result of several factors really.  For instance, BD is a musician and as such there is an almost constant stream of music in our apartment, either that he has made or that he is releasing on his small record label, or of his friends’ bands, with the occasional Neil Young record thrown in for good measure.  I’ve become okay with that, but the result has been that when he is not playing music, I generally prefer to have quiet.

Also, this may sound ridiculous, but when my friend Jerry Fuchs passed away last fall, I think I felt that music may have been lost to me forever.  I met Jerry through one of his many bands, a band called Turing Machine – probably the least known and recognized of his recent musical endeavors, but nevertheless this was my absolute favorite band.  Their music made me feel alive, energized, invigorated.  They hadn’t played live in several years, and to be honest, most other concerts I attended paled in comparison to seeing them play.  I rarely attended a concert without thinking “boy I wish I was seeing TM play tonight.”  When Jerry died, the music was only a small part of my loss and the loss experienced by his other friends and family.  But as the months have passed by, the realization that there is no music that makes me feel that same energy, and that there may never be again has really furthered my disinterest in exploring music.

Today I had a momentary glimpse of the elation that music brings out in me.  I heard a song by a band called The Mynabirds.  Its nothing earth shattering, but something drew me in for the first time in months.  Beautiful music with catcalls to classic country & soul. I wanted to share it with you.  I found the youtube above pretty quickly, and google presents many other opportunities for tuning in.  I hope you enjoy, friends and readers.  And please, be careful in elevators.

This weekend my rose bush bloomed!  I planted it last year, and only got a few tiny little blossoms before the end of the summer.  But the bush did take to its new home, and on Sunday morning, I clipped my first rose!  Most of my gardening is focused on vegetables and fruits, but I do also enjoy flowers which add beauty and fragrance and attract bees and butterflies and hummingbirds and all kinds of lovely pollinators.  I’ve been warned that Roses can be difficult, but so far I’m not believing the hype!  On Sunday afternoon, I clipped a few more blooms and had a beautiful, fragrant bouquet – what a delightful way to start the week.

I thought they were so beautiful I couldn’t choose just one photograph, so here are some more:

Its vidalia onion time!  Vidalias are a supersweet variety of onion that originally was developed in Texas, but is now grown in Georgia.  To be sold as a vidalia, like champagne, these onions can only be grown in designated areas.  There are two other great supersweet onion varieties that I know of, Walla Walla and Texas1015, but I haven’t ever seen either of those in the supermarket here in Pennsylvania.  Vidalias are harvested starting in late April and they keep coming through June.  These days with all those new fangled modern food storage systems, you can still find Vidalias in the store in December, but as far as I’m concerned, that’s cheating.

Anyway, the point is that over the weekend, the first of the 2010 Vidalia onions showed up at the store, and I brought a beauty home with me.  I decided to make it for breakfast yesterday.  A while back, I made some french onion tarts, which were totally delicious, but very heavy.  I decided yesterday to update it to something lighter, but still in the same family.

Onion Tarts

• 6 slices of good bakery bread – italian, sourdough, multigrain, whatever your pleasure
• Fresh Goat Cheese/Chevre
• 1 Vidalia Onion
• 1 Tbsp Light Olive Oil and/or Butter
• 1 tsp Thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• salt & pepper

1. Preheat Oven to 350 F
2. Arrange bread sliced on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes until lightly toasted.  If you have a toaster oven you can just toast them in that.
3. In the meantime, heat the oil or butter over medium low heat in a nonstick pan
4. Slice the onion into thin to medium slices
5. In the pan, combine onions with thyme and bay leaf, sprinkle salt & pepper to taste
6. Cook the onions over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.  They will first turn translucent, and then a lovely caramel color.  Be patient, this could take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes depending on how thin you sliced the onions and how big your pan is.  The longer you cook them, the darker and sweeter they will get.  If they start to char, just turn the heat down.  When the onion is done cooking, discard the bay leaf.
7. Spread goat cheese onto the toasts, and top with the onions.

You could top these with a little balsamic-dressed arugula, or add some chopped nuts between the cheese and the onions for crunch, but they’re quite delicious just as they are.

So a few months ago, I blogged about making lentil salad, and Sarina aka Lehigh Valley Lexicon posted a comment about making a curried red lentil soup.  Well that sounded pretty delicious to me (Sarina, I’d still love that recipe if you have it!).  Inspired by the thought of that, I decided to try my hand at an indian-style dinner recently.  I kept it simple and made curried red lentils & naan.  I was most nervous about cooking the naan on a griddle instead of a tandoor oven, but it really turned out just fine.

Curried Red Lentils

• 1 cup red lentils
• 2 cups veggie stock/broth
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 3 Tbsp earth balance
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp red curry powder
• 1/2 cup coconut milk

1. In a medium saucepan, bring vegetable stock, tumeric, and lentils to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 10-12 minutes.  Stir occasionally.
2. As the lentils are simmering, melt the earth balance over medium heat in a small pan, add the onions and cook until the onions are softened, then add the garlic and spices and mix together until the flavors combine.
3. Mix the onion mixture into the lentils, add the coconut milk and continue simmering 3-5 minutes until done

The finished result is a creamy, mild lentil dish – all the components kind of break down into a very delicious saucy curry.  Perfect to be sopped up with your fresh homemade naan.  The timing of this worked out nicely, I made the naan dough first, let it rise while I prepped and started the curried red lentils, and then rolled out and cooked the naan in that final simmer time.  You could also make the naan ahead and just reheat it quickly on the griddle or even in the oven with a moist towel.

Stovetop Naan

• 1 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp warm water
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup warm almond milk
• 2 Tbsp light-flavored oil (light olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil) + more for cooking
• pinch salt

1. In a small bowl, combine warm water, sugar, and yeast.  Let sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy.
2. Whisk or sift flour & salt into a medium mixing bowl (you can also do all the mixing and kneading with a stand mixer if you want).
3. Add almond milk, vegetable oil, and yeast mixture and mix until moist
4. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for 3-5 minutes until smooth
5. Place in lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let rise 30 minutes to an hour until doubled in size.
6. Remove dough and divide into 6 pieces
7. Heat griddle or large pan to medium/medium high heat
8. Roll dough pieces thin to 1/8 inch, and brush lightly with oil
9. Place dough oiled-side down on hot griddle, and lightly oil the other side.  The dough will puff up as it cooks.  I cooked it about 3 minutes on the first side and 1 1/2-2 minutes on the second side.
10. Repeat until all pieces of the naan are cooked.  If you have a big enough griddle or pan, you can do more than one piece at the same time.
11. Serve hot